The invention relates generally to the field of conveyors for industrial systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system and method for visualizing and simulating the components of an industrial conveyor system to optimize utilization.
For an industrial system with many components, it is beneficial to optimize the performance of each component so that the industrial system as a whole operates efficiently. For example, in systems employing conveyors, such as high-speed packaging line, the system relies on the efficient interplay between machine components and a series of conveyor sections between the machine components. The conveyor sections in such systems have a plethora of functions, such as transporting goods between machine components, positioning goods for machine processing, or acting as buffers to bridge time. As such, it is often beneficial to visualize and simulate the interplay between the conveyor sections and the machines of an industrial system, so that the performance of these components (e.g., speed, quantity, position, or size of conveyor sections) may be optimized.
However, traditional visualization and simulation tools use modeling schemes that are complex to manage and that are limited in the information they provide. Indeed, such tools use modeling schemes that often bear little resemblance to the physical implementation of the industrial system. As such, there is a need for a simpler and more scalable visualization and simulation tool to visualize and simulate the components of an industrial system.